Thursday, April 3, 2014

Book Giveaway: No One Could Have Guessed the Weather By Anne-Marie Casey

NO ONE COULD HAVE GUESSED THE WEATHER

By: Anne-Marie Casey

Published: Berkley Trade Reprint on April 1, 2014

Anne-Marie Casey has given readers a witty and sophisticated first book. Keep reading to win your own copy of NO ONE COULD HAVE GUESSED THE WEATHER below!

This giveaway is now closed. Thanks to all who entered.

If you take SEX AND THE CITY and imagine it written by Nora Ephron, you'd get the thoughtful and brilliantly observant NO ONE COULD HAVE GUESSED THE WEATHER.

The middle part of your story might be just the beginning.Sometimes what you want in your twenties isn’t what you want or need in your forties.

When Lucy Lovett’s husband loses his job, she is forced to give up her posh life in London and move their family to a tiny apartment in Manhattan, where her husband has managed to secure a lowly position. Lucy finds herself living in the center of cool and hip. Across from their apartment is a trendy bar called PDT—whenever Lucy passes by, she thinks, Please Don’t Tell anyone I’m a middle-aged woman.Homesick and resentful at first, Lucy soon embarks on the love affair of her life—no, not with her husband (though they’re both immensely relieved to discover they do love each other for richer or poorer), but with New York City and the three women who befriend her.There’s Julia, who is basically branded with a Scarlet A when she leaves her husband and kids for a mini nervous breakdown and a room of her own; Christy, a much older man’s trophy wife, who is a bit adrift as only those who live high up in penthouses can be; and disheveled and harried Robyn, constantly compensating for her husband, who can’t seem to make the transition from wunderkind to adult.Spot-on observant, laugh-out-loud funny, yet laced with kindness through and through, NO ONE COULD HAVE GUESSED THE WEATHER is a story of what happens when you grow up and realize the middle part of your story might just be your beginning.

Praise for NO ONE COULD HAVE GUESSED THE WEATHER

Featured on Oprah's 2013 Summer Reading List as an un-put-down-able read!

“If you loved The Girls’ Guide to Hunting and Fishing, this book is right up your alley. Casey, with humor and a keen, thoughtful eye, deftly sews together intricate plotlines, true characters, and spot-on, hilarious details into a marvelous quilt you want to snuggle under all afternoon.”

—Isabel Gillies, New York Times–bestselling author of Happens Every Day

“Very smart, very savvy, and very, very funny. I loved this book and couldn’t put it down.”

—Rosamund Lupton, bestselling author of Sister

“Anne-Marie Casey has written a woman's guide to living and loving. She deftly mines the landscape of the heart of Lucy Lovett, an everywoman who is clear-eyed, hopeful, and just a bit tarnished for the wear. Casey’s humor is like cream on a scone, there’s bite but it’s also delicious. Readers will find themselves on these pages and revel in the connection. . . . I loved it.”

—Adriana Trigiani, New York Times–bestselling author of The Shoemaker’s Wife

The memory of how I felt when I read this book, the sense of emotional connection to the main character, Jane, and my admiration for the simplicity, yet boldness, of the structure, gave me a model of what I sought to achieve when I first started to write fiction myself.

Little Women and Good Wives by Louisa M Alcott

I came back to these books, which I adored as a child, in 2011, when I adapted them for the stage and, of course, re-reading them as an adult, I felt an even stronger sense of why they have endured as iconic classics for so many generations of women. As an adult, and a working writer, I find Jo March's struggle to provide for her family through her work inspirational, as well as her burning desire to marry for love and retain her independence of spirit, most unusual in the context of 19th century literature.

Heartburn by Nora Ephron

I always assume that everyone has read something by Nora Ephron, but if you've only seen the movies, get this book. It's got everything; laugh out loud humor, intense emotional punch and recipes. I read a piece by Lena Dunham in which she said that Ephron "called bullshit on a whole host of things including...the idea that one's writing isn't fiction if it borrows from one's life." I couldn't have put that better.

The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton.

I was thinking about late 19th century novels when I was writing certain sections of my book and it was pleasure to go back and re-read several of Wharton's. If you haven't read any, I think this is the one to start with (although I have a huge affection for The House of Mirth). I was struck once again by two things about this novel; the emotional complexity of the characters and plot, and yet the readability. That is extremely hard to achieve, yet Wharton makes it seem effortless.

Arlington Park by Rachel Cusk

I have long been an admirer of Rachel Cusk's writing, but I pick out this book because I remember when I read it, at a time when my children were little and I was spending a lot of time at the school gates, admiring her decision to treat the domestic lives of women as a subject worthy of serious literary consideration.

What are your 5 favorite quotes from NO ONE COULD HAVE GUESSED THE WEATHER?

"It might be true, but it doesn't feel real."

"I don't want there to be a song that reminds me of what this feels like."

"They had both walked along the boulevard of broken dreams and ended up in the same apartment block, although one of them was at the top and the other at the bottom."

"It was just a storm in a PMT cup."

"My money may not have bought her happiness, but she has a better quality of misery."

Anne-Marie Casey was a script editor and producer of prime-time television drama for ten years before becoming a writer full-time. No One Could Have Guessed the Weather, her first book, was inspired by her time living in Manhattan and her love-love relationship with the city. She is married to the novelist Joseph O’Connor. They now live in Dublin, Ireland, with their two sons. For more on Casey, visit her website athttp://www.annemariecasey.com/.

Can't wait to read it?

Here is your opportunity to win your own copy!

Enter to win below!

The giveaway is open to US residents only. You may enter the giveaway only once. The giveaway will end at 11:59 PM on Sunday, April 13, 2014. I will choose a winner on Monday, April 14, 2014, using Random.org. I will email the winner and the winner will have 48 hours to respond or I will choose a new winner. This giveaway is made possible by Berkley Books and Penguin Group. I am not responsible for items that are not delivered but will do my best to make sure you receive your prize.

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On this blog you will find book and product reviews as well as tips and snippets from our life in small-town Iowa. As a married mom of 3, I keep plenty busy with their activities. In my spare time, I substitute teach, volunteer in our community, read, play scrabble,and drink wine. I also write for the Cedar Rapids Gazette.

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